That Broughton Island trip is definitely in my future, but first I have to fund my TI purchase by flogging my car (MY00 Subaru STi) and buying a younger but bland car with the change after getting a papaya TI. Anyone want an STi rocketship?

In due course, I see myself sailing from Forster to Nelson Bay... 17nm to Seal Rocks, 15 more to Broughton and the final 12 to Nelson Bay. Doable in steps, or in perfect conditions, one mega day! But I will need lots of more modest sailing hours on the TI before venturing outside. (I have no kayak experience yet, but have extensive offshore sailing experience (including 150nm Adelaide- Port Lincoln in my 25 foot yacht in under 24 hours)

As for sacking Lowell George, the truth is very simple, Lowell kept telling Frank other ways to do stuff, until Zappa told him to get his own $%^&% band, so Lowell George did!

It demonstrates the benefits of owning one of these very cool kayaks that we sail and camp with. I like the idea of being able get around the restrictions of camping at a park by anchoring out a bit. I'm working on plans to modify my AI to accommodate a tent since I'm not a fan of hammocks. I should have something working (or not) shortly.

If Hobie used this video in commercials, they would sell a bazillion of them.

Tony - keep in touch with us and your purchase. I've thought the same only going the other way from Nelson Bay to Forster. I'd want to make it a 3 dayer though. 30 kms in the saddle is enough for me for 1 day. If you're in the ocean and there's not much to see, I spy can get a bit boring.........something beginning with S.Yea, Frank was a bit of a temperamental perfectionist so they say.

Captn - Thanks and glad you liked it. You should swap your sleeping ideas with Stringy if you're not too keen on the hammock. He's working on the same sort of thing. Could I ask why you don't like 'em ? Only because I wasn't keen either until I got into this one. The reason I didn't like them was because of the banana back. I just couldn't sleep like that. But the Hennessy Hammock is Asymmetrical so you can lay flat. I must admit it did take 2-3 outings before it won me over but I'm so glad I persisted. It really does suit what we do especially with the restricted parks issue. Yep, we live in a Nanny State as well.

Slaughter, I tried a Hennessy hammock on my last Appalachian trail section hike but didn't get a good nights sleep. Might have hung it wrong in the trees but after a few days of poor sleep I gave up on it. But one advantage with a hammock is you're up higher from the water. Not sure how dry a tent will stay when waves start pounding the AI at anchor. It will be interesting.

Another thing is when the weather is cold you need insulation between you and a hammock ... something like a closed foam cell. And that added more complexity inside the hammock as I slid around trying to get comfortable. It probably was something I wasn't doing correctly because there seems to be more and more hikers using hammocks these days.

Jim, the important thing with a camping hammock is to have the insulation under the hammock, rather than inside. I found it impossible to get a comfortable night's sleep in my hammock when I attempted to use a sleeping bag inside the hammock - I kept slipping around. As soon as I got an underlay for the hammock, everything got much more comfortable. I now just use my sleeping bag like a blanket, rather than trying to get inside of it. The underlay doesn't add much complexity to the setup - I just leave it on the hammock permanently and store the hammock by rolling everything up inside the flysheet and stuffing the whole thing in a dry sack. I don't use the snakeskins. This works fine on the boat, but might prove a bit more cumbersome when hiking, I guess.

Total understand your reasons for looking for alternatives Jim. As Chris says, you can't really sleep without the insulation. Without it, the hammock is a cold place for the majority of the year. I do use the common camping insulation pad inside the hammock but the difference between my setup and Chris's is that mine has a side zip rather than the bottom velcro entry. Not saying it's better but it does let you get into your sleeping bag a bit easier which you need to do if you don't have the Hennessy insulation pad. I'm a side sleeper so thats why I got the Asymmetrical version. When I say you lay flat, it's more flatish but once I get into 'that' position, ZZZZZZZ.

Yeah Chris, the insulation under the hammock is what I should have used. It would have simplified things a lot. Slaughter, I think having a side load hammock would also make a huge difference. In the one I had, you entered through the bottom.

Thanks Keith. Yea, I really enjoyed Jims video. You certainly do get the most out of your trips and do a great job of showing off adventures in video, pics and words. I'll put a bit more thought into a cooking thread. I know you lot certainly don't go hungry. We've seen the photos. We could possibly start with some recipes but it's also the tips about making your food last over days. What foods you eat on the first day and what you eat towards the end of say a 5 day trip. Youz have a bit more experience in that area than me. How to store food. What not to take. Tips on how to conserve water. Do you think it could warrant it's own category ?? Matt ??

Jim - What I'm also trialling is using my FlexiBoom as a brace under the hammock. With the Asymmetrical design you lay at about 30degrees off centre. By connecting the FlexiBoom ( I like things to have 2 uses, Chris uses his Mirage Drive as a fly tensioner ), to the sides of the hammock on the underside, when you're out of it, it straightens up and holds your sleeping bag and underpad flat and kind of the way you left it, rather than falling to a big crumpled ball in the middle. Then when you go to re-enter and position you arse in the middle, the FlexiBoom just bends like it's supposed to. Well that's the theory, and it works in the garage, but I like to give things a few outings before posting the results on the forum.

The Dreamwalker looks like a lot of fun, but I suspect that inside a hammock, it could have the same problem as a lot of sleeping bags - because you have nylon on nylon, there is little traction and you tend to slip around inside the hammock when you move around or roll over. I haven't seen Slaughter's pad, but I gather it presents less of a problem in that respect.

Captn - Thanks and glad you liked it. You should swap your sleeping ideas with Stringy if you're not too keen on the hammock. He's working on the same sort of thing.

I gave up on the idea of sleeping onboard after our 4 day Cowan Creek trip. I had been mucking about with marine ply and slats like Nohuhu's bench seats that could be centred over the hull to make a large camping platform. I couldn't get it right in time so we stealth camped. We had howling westerlies that whole trip and where I had planned to moor was very exposed to the wind and whitecaps. It would have made it very unpleasant. In fact you couldn't escape the wind if you were on the water anywhere. We ended putting our bivvy's up in a sheltered overhang.The hammock is an idea that works on the AI but doubling everything on the TI makes it impractical.I'd be interested to know how well the hammock handles 20+knots!

Stringy, I've slept in my hammock (on the water) in heavy rain and high winds. I just set the flysheet a bit lower and I was snug as a bug in a rug. The Hennessy website has a number of accounts of people using their hammocks in a blizzard.